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COLLEGE SEARCH | Community Service | June 2012

Best Schools for College
Community Service

By Taylor Cotter | StudentAdvisor.com Staff

Most high schools require you to do a certain amount of
community service hours before you graduate. I know quite a few people
in high school that fell in love with their service projects, and ended
up pursuing community service in college, then later in their careers.
If you love helping others, picking a college with great community
service can be a great investment in your future.
Are you thinking that college community service could be a part of your
future? Check out these seven colleges with great community service
programs!

“There are all types of service experiences
available at BSC, from one-off efforts to more intensive experiences,”
says
Kristin Harper, director of
service-learning. “Often,
students will progress from ‘thin’ to ‘thicker’ service experiences
during their time here.” ‘Thicker’ experiences might
include the “alternative spring break” programs, or the
month-long service-learning projects offered during the January
“exploration term.” These projects place teams in
communities around the world, and are backed by fundraising and
designated scholarships to ensure equal access for all interested
students.

The Edible Peace Patch nonprofit at Eckered College is the
brainchild of Kent “Kip” Curtis,
assistant professor of environmental
studies, whose involvement at local Lakewood Elementary inspired him
(and Eckerd students) to build a 13-bed organic food garden there. Now,
Eckerd students help students around St. Petersburg grow their own
collard greens, eggplants, garbanzo beans and carrots. They teach about
healthy cooking in the school kitchens, and have developed a science
curriculum around organic farming.

The results have been transformative in many ways, says
Curtis: “when Lakewood Elementary had a PTA meeting, we’d
get two or three parents showing up,” he recalls. “Now, we had an
end-of-the-year harvest festival and 300 parents showed up.”

Hope College’s greatest service achievements have all been on
the backs of student enthusiasm and geared unswervingly toward very
real results. “Time to Serve,” a voluntary
day of service
for new students every September, boasted around 100 participants in
its inaugural year. Now, 11 years later, that number has ballooned to
almost 400. Similarly, the annual “Dance Marathon,” a
student-run fundraiser for the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand
Rapids, Mich., just surpassed the $1 million marker in its 13th year.
That’s an average of $77,200 a year, and an extraordinary feat for a
school of Hope’s size.

Students’ commitment to service runs deep at LVC, with campus
clubs, athletic teams, residence halls, and Greek organizations helping
out in the community and on campus. The school, in turn, provides
additional incentive for students’ participation in service projects.
“We integrated volunteering information with Blackboard, enrolling every
student in a community service ‘class," explains Paul Fullmer, LVC’s
director of community service and volunteerism.

“Students can then see how many hours they’ve logged, where they were served and
how they were earned. They get real-time reporting on their efforts.”
As students accumulate hours, they move toward receiving
bronze, silver and gold awards that show up on their campus résumés.
“In other words,” says Fullmer, “volunteering can help them gain
employment.”

Service inspires empathy, and empathy inspires further
service. Students returning from Misericordia’s long-running
Guyana orphanage program established pajama
and underwear drives for the children upon their arrival home. Others
returning from a trip to serve undocumented workers in Laredo, Texas,
subsequently participated in a conference on immigration in D.C.
Students who had begun a service relationship to nearby Noxen Township
turned out in droves to help with flood relief in the aftermath of
Hurricane Irene. Misericordia also offers more than 50 service-learning
courses in nearly every discipline, from English and
sociology to
physics and nursing.

Otterbein students get involved in nearly every kind of
service-oriented work imaginable, creating their own programs where
they identify needs in the community. A music student, for instance,
developed “The B.E.A.T.
for Music,” an organization dedicated to both
music education outreach and public advocacy for music programs. Both
of these aspects are equally important during a time
when school budgetary cuts often put the arts at a disadvantage.

Otterbein's dedication to community service has been
consistently recognized by the White House. 2012 is the sixth year
Otterbein has won the Award with Distinction on the President’s Higher
Education Community Service Honor Roll.

This intellectual and spiritual seriousness at Sewanee: The
University of the South finds expression in unique service
opportunities such as the Lilly
Summer Discernment Institute, which
offers students a $2,400 stipend to take on an unpaid internship in the
field of their choosing. Critically, the six weeks are flanked by two
“weeks of discernment” on Sewanee’s campus, designed for students to
consider whether a life of service is right for them. “We want them to
reflect on their strengths and weaknesses,” says Wilson, “not just what
they’re doing but why they’re doing it.”

SU SERVE takes place every year during the month of April and
finds Susquehanna students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends
pledging their time to volunteering around the world. Some engage in
specific efforts organized by alumni both in Selinsgrove and throughout
the United States, and still others offer up volunteer hours of their
own choosing. What’s the secret to their impressive results? According
to Becky Deitrick,
director of alumni relations, it’s this:
Susquehannans are already active in service anyway. Long-running
efforts such as SU SERVE, along with a host of
local and global service-learning programs, have earned Susquehanna
consistent national recognition for its dedication to community
service, including from four of the past five U.S. presidents.

Interested in some of these community service oriented
colleges? Start
Comparing Them Now!